Marc Scott Finishes 10th at NCAA Championships

Saturday, November 21

Louisville, Ky.

TBA

Tulsa

NCAA Championship

Photo by: Ken Moreland

Marc Scott Finishes 10th at NCAA Championships

11/21/2015 4:43:00 PM | Cross Country

By: Eric Hollier

NCAA Men's Results | NCAA Women's Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Marc Scott finished 10^th and junior Luke Traynor came in 34^th to lead the Tulsa men's cross country team to a 20^th-place finish at the NCAA Championships Saturday at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park. The Golden Hurricane women's team finished 29^th, led by senior Rachel Baptista's 69^th-place finish.

Scott's 10^th-place finish is Tulsa's highest-ever individual finish at the NCAA Championships. He earned All-America honors for the second year in a row, while Traynor earned an All-America honor in his first year at TU. Baptista's 69^th-place finish is the highest-ever for a TU women's runner at the NCAA Championships, and the No. 29 team finish is the highest in program history for the Hurricane women's team.

Scott ran the 10K in 30:02.6 and Traynor finished with a time of 30:22.3 to lead the Tulsa men's team, which totaled 468 points to finish in 20^th place. TU finished four points behind Minnesota and 18 points behind Oklahoma State. Syracuse won the men's title with 82 points.

Baptista ran the 6K in 20:39.1, and her 69th-place finish paced the Hurricane women's squad, which totaled 646 points to place 29^th. TU trailed San Francisco by 10 points in the team standings. New Mexico won the women's title with 49 points.

"Marc has been our leader all year. He's done a great job," said Tulsa Head Coach Steve Gulley. "We're very proud of him, and we've leaned on his shoulders a lot this season. I think he's probably one of the big keys why we got here. He was able to give us that low point in all of the meets. We still don't have a lot of experience, and it's been our Achilles' heel all season. I'm still proud of them for getting here, as young as they are. I hope they will be able to get benefits from it in the years to come. We kind of figured this was going to be tough (for the women's team) not being here in a while – none of these kids had any NCAA experience. I think we did the best job we could."

Sophomore Ben Preisner placed 114^th with a time of 31:06.1, sophomore Adam Roderique placed 188^th with a time of 31:52.2, and freshman Austin Del Rosso ran the race in 32:27.9 to place 228^th as Tulsa's fifth men's scoring runner.

Juniors Stacie Taylor and Clara Langley and sophomores Nicole Lee and Danielle Medearis followed Baptista in scoring points for the Tulsa women's team. Taylor finished 144^th with a time of 21:10.8, Lee finished 149^th with a time of 21:12.6, Medearis placed 223^rd in 22:01.0, and Langley finished 229^th in 22:06.1.

On Saturday, Scott placed 10^th to top his previous school-best finish of 14^th at the 2014 NCAA Championships. Scott completed an outstanding season in which he won four of the five meets in which he ran, and a decorated career in which he earned two All-America honors, won two conference championships, and received a Midwest Region Athlete of the Year award.

Tulsa will lose only two of the 14 athletes that competed at the NCAA Championships this year to graduation, and return 12 runners in 2016 with experience at the national meet.

"Absolutely," Gulley said of whether the experience at the will help the teams in the future. "I knew this was the process of being here for the girls. The guys have been here, but none of these guys have been really had the experience at nationals, except for two levels. I think it is a good experience, but what can we do with this next year, will be the key. Is it going to help propel us into a better situation? We hope so."

Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. Follow Tulsa Cross Country on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaTrack.

MEN'S TEAM RESULTS
1. Syracuse – 82
2. Colorado – 91
3. Stanford – 151
4. Oregon – 183
5. Iona – 231
6. Arkansas – 244
7. Louisville – 331
8. Washington – 345
9. Michigan – 348
10. Georgetown – 352
11. UTEP – 354
12. BYU – 406
13. Furman – 423
14. UCLA – 429
15. Oklahoma – 432
16. Boise State – 435
17. Eastern Kentucky – 446
18. Oklahoma State – 450
19. Minnesota – 464
20. Tulsa – 468
21. Southern Utah – 477
22. Virginia – 480
23. California – 524
24. Penn – 526
25. Michigan State – 543
26. Washington State – 547
27. Virginia Tech – 581
28. North Carolina State – 596
29. Florida State – 598
30. Mississippi – 607
31. Texas – 833

WOMEN'S TEAM RESULTS

1.  New Mexico – 49

2.  Colorado – 129

3.  Oregon – 214

4.  Providence – 231

5.  North Carolina State – 264

6.  Michigan – 264

7.  Oklahoma State – 274

8.  Notre Dame – 276

9.  Arkansas – 276

10.  Washington – 297

11.  Boise State – 330

12.  Syracuse – 359

13.  Michigan State – 368

14.  Stanford – 379

15.  Virginia – 386

16.  Penn State – 396

17.  Mississippi State – 405

18.  Minnesota – 471

19.  Vanderbilt – 474

20.  Georgetown – 491

21.  Princeton – 524

22.  Weber State – 558

23.  BYU – 591

24.  Iowa State – 591

25.  Gonzaga – 615

26.  Utah – 618

27.  Kansas – 625

28.  San Francisco – 636

29.  Tulsa – 646

30.  Villanova – 667

31.  Texas – 828

TULSA MEN 10K INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
10. Marc Scott – 30:02.6
34. Luke Traynor – 30:22.3
114. Ben Preisner – 31:06.1
188. Adam Roderique – 31:52.2
224. Austin Del Rosso – 32:27.9
246. Isaac Dobos – 33:16.5
250. Elijah Silva – 34:28.2

TULSA WOMEN 6K INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
69. Rachel Baptista – 20:39.1
144. Stacie Taylor – 21:10.8
149. Nicole Lee – 21:12.6
223. Danielle Medearis – 22:01.0
229. Clara Langley – 22:06.1
245. Alyssa Bolliger – 22:33.2
252. Emma Galbraith – 23:31.2